Getting colder...

     Well since my last blog almost everything is shut down for the season.  It is amazing how much there is to do and how just 47 people can get it done.  Six miles of runway flags and markers were removed.  Flag lines to all used outlying buildings were set up so you can find your way outside in the dark of winter. Fuel lines were emptied and removed.  Buildings moved, winterized, and shut down. Heavy equipment winterized and stored.  Massive food pull brought inside and stored.  (They closed down and turned the heat off in the wing where I used to stay for the food storage) The Jamesways Summer Camp (houses about 150 people during the summer season) cleaned and shut down.  This part, although some of the rooms were absolutely disgusting, had some advantages.  There was a lot of water left in the Jamesway's tanks and they could not be drained.  Thus we were told to head out there and take as many and as long of a shower as we wanted until the water was depleted!!!  NICE.  People also left a lot of stuff.  Everything to booze, books, clothes to tvs.  It was a nice opportunity to pick up some free stuff if you needed anything.  All the leftovers went into Skua (kind of a good will).  I anticipate that I will be able to dig up future costumes for Ralf and my Friday theme nights at the store.  But we are almost done.
     Medical is still slow.  That is a good thing especially since there are only 47 of us here.  We are taking this time to reorganize the pharmacy and writing up protocals for different procedures.  We have a brand new trauma team with only 2 returning summer members (me and John).  Training has commenced.  We have already had several training sessions and drills.   Last Saturday our drill had Derek/Shelby on a snowmobile and they ran into the fish.  (The giant fish is left over from our ice sculptures that we did around Christmas)  The snowmobile flipped on top of Shelby resulting in a broken arm and rib fractures. Derek had gotten so excited he passed out.  Our team managed everything effectively given their minimal training thus far.  I found it interesting becaue it was minus 62 degrees with a wind chill of minus 100-the coldest that I have been outside in.  When you come back inside it takes you several minutes to get all your gear off and become re acclimated to the warmth.    Oh because the fish is huge and could cause a hazard this winter by someone walking into it we are holding a raffle to determine who gets to smash it with the D6.  Not sure what that is yet but hopefully it is big, regardless everyone who want to can get to learn how to drive it and then someone will get to smash the fish.  (pic)  I have already attended snowmobile and LMC classes.  The snowmobiles are a bitch-very difficult to start in these temperatures.  Now the LMCs are a lot of fun.  Easy to start, enclosed cabin, will go anywhere.
      I think that Ralf and I bring in the highest cash flow on Friday nights at the store.  It is hard to say if that is because of our enthusiasm with various theme nights or if people are getting an earlier start for Saturday night.  Our third night in the store our theme movie was "One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest".  I dressed up as nurse Ratchet and Ralf was in a straightjacket all night.  He had the perfect catatonic look.  (pic)  Last Friday our theme was "Deliverance".  We wore our carthart overalls with bad fake teeth and straw hats accompanied by a banjo.  It was funny trying to get Ralf, who has a German accent, to talk like he was from Georgia.  This past week the theme was Men in Black.   I got to be an alien this time.  Next week-not sure yet.  Send me some ideas.
      After extensive internet research we have had minimal success with our mushroom cultures.  One of six have grown.  We will see what happens with the one and try again.  We are also attempting to grow potatoes.   We are not allowed to grow flowers however Joe found a way around that.  We are growing lavender-herb-in the clinic, and a type of sunflower.   I am learning more and more about hydroponic gardening.  Ella seems to think that is why I like the lettuce/salads because it is not grown from the soil or chemically treated.
      The latest SP incident has been the issues with the poop trap.  Apparently no one has cleaned it like they were supposed to over the last year thus for the last two days I have been walking around with a mask on however it really hasn't helped much.  It got to the point Tuesday that we had to leave the clinic because of the powerful odors and were available on radio if anybody need us.  One trap down, two to go. :(  Many of you that really know me, know that I can't stand certain odors...so it was a difficult afternoon.  (Lisa it actually got to the point that I was gagging-don't read this during lunch)
     I have mentioned food pull before but now in the winter time we also have a "booze pull".  Apparently somewhere outside there is a building full of beer, wine, liquor, and SODA, I figured out where yet.  Well before it gets really, really cold it has to be brought into the station.  There is an all call throught the station for "booze pull".  Everyone dresses in their ECW gear and forms an assembly line from outside, up a couple flights of stairs and into the building.  A piston bully/forklift brings the triwalls full of the various beverages over to the outside stairs where they are unloaded, passed from person to person up the stairs and into the building.  There they are stored in various rooms (that have been shut down) until the store is restocked.   No caffeine free diet pepsi, diet pepsi, but they do have diet coke!!!!  Better than nothing.  I will have to make sure I wear my PEPSI sweatshirt while I am drinking a diet coke.
      Volleyball keeps me occupied 2 nights a week.  However depending on how many people show up it could be a short exhausting night.  I thought playing twos at sea level was challenging, try playing twos at altitude.  I have also started playing a game called "Settlers".  It is a board game where you have to build settlements, cities, roads, bridges, city walls.  In order to do this you have to sell resources: ore, wood, sheep, wheat.....  the game is never the same but takes a long time to play just one game.  I have discovered that I should only play on weekends because they end up staying up to late during the week and I wouldn't get much sleep.
     As the sun sinks lower on the horizon it is getting colder and windier.  Over the last week the cloud cover has been almost 100% with visibility at times 50 ft.  However over the last several days the system has moved on and the shadows and colors are magnificent.  The sun should set early next week.  Hopefully the horizon will remain clear so I will get some good pictures and maybe even see the green flash.  (although down here it is appears blue)  The station has several celebratory dinners throughout the season.  The first is coming up Saturday to celebrate the sunset.